STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch was recalled Monday with fondness and from-the-heart farewells at a funeral he planned himself and was attended by a throng of thousands at a Manhattan synagogue.

"It was uplifting; it was positive," said Angelo Aponte of West Brighton, who served as a Consumer Affairs commissioner under Koch. "It was full of anecdotes, of laughter and tears."

"It was a beautiful service full of people, past and present, who make up the fabric of public service," said Fred Cerullo of St. George, CEO of the Grand Central Partnership, a former City Council member and commissioner during the Giuliani years.

Koch, a quintessential New Yorker, known for his wit, wisdom and abiding love affair with the city he served for three terms as mayor, died Friday at the age of 88 of congestive heart failure.

"It was really a great memorial, a great tribute to him," said Borough President James P. Molinaro. "It was well-done, classy. Everybody was there, everybody. When you see so many people, it is a testament to the man and how successful he was."

Another Staten Islander in attendance was District Attorney Daniel Donovan, who said in a statement afterward: "Today's service was a wonderful tribute to a wonderful man. The message throughout was clear: Ed Koch loved the city of New York, and the city, myself included, loved him back."

"Each of us has known someone who made an immense difference in our lives, someone for whom it can be said made our lives all the richer for having been a part," Richmond County Clerk Stephen Fiala, who also was present, said afterward in a statement. "Ed was such a person to me. He was my second father, my mentor and most of all my truest friend. He was a great man, he did great things and we are all fortunate to have had him in our lives for as long as we did. Today, Ed was shown just how loved he was."

Among those who eulogized Koch were a grandnephew and grandniece, who praised him as a "doting grandfather," Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton.

Clinton recalled the many letters he received from Koch after Koch left public service, eager to share his thoughts on the issues of the day, including one topic dear to his heart -- offering young people who had fallen into trouble a second chance to get their lives back on track.

Bloomberg called Koch "brash and irreverent" during his stewardship of the city during the 1970s and '80s.

"No mayor, I think, has ever embodied the spirit of New York City like he did," said Bloomberg, "and I don't think anyone ever will."

"Ed always said, 'Do the right thing,'" Aponte said after the service. "He meant it. He also always said, 'If you bring me a problem, you'd better bring me a solution as well. He was indefatigable. The city was on its knees in 1978. Not only fiscally, but the spirit of the city was broken as well. There was graffiti. It was dirty. He said, 'We can't let that happen.' He said, 'The only way to get people to follow you is to be bigger than life.' He was. He always said, 'The best is yet to come.'"

Aponte said he was among those who gathered at Gracie Mansion in December when former staffers feted Koch at his annual birthday party.

"He looked fragile," said Aponte, and alluded to the fact that the celebration might be his last.

"But he said, 'I'm going to be in the best place you can possibly be,'" said Aponte. "He was fully in control of himself. In control of his relationship with God, his relationship with his religion, his relationship with Israel. He had a life-long love affair with the city of New York. People would allude to his sexuality, but his mistress was the city of New York."

Cerullo recalled that he started out in city government at a time when Koch was beginning his third term in office.

"I was thinking about my beginnings and that Ed Koch was the mayor," said Cerullo. "You relive your experiences and how they connect with him. I knew him professionally as well as personally. We had numerous lunches together; there were e-mails, notes, phone calls. It was always fun to talk about politics with him. We also talked about movies, TV."

Cerullo, an actor, remembered that he got a phone call during one of those lunches with Koch, about two years ago, asking him whether he'd like to appear in an episode of "One Life to Live."

"I told him I'd have to pick up the script and he said, 'I'll come with you,'" said Cerullo. "We went with his car and driver. He was wonderful."

The iconic ballad "New York, New York" was played at the conclusion of the funeral service in Temple Emanu-El, on the Upper East Side, and mourners responded with applause.

Koch was laid to rest in Trinity Church Cemetery, in the Washington Heights section, the lone place in his beloved Manhattan, now closed to burials, where he was able to secure a plot.